Proposition
Let's upgrade the minimal requirements of an ID request to add a list of at least 3 wrong titles and 1 search query. Without this list, the post would be closed for not showing enough effort on the poster's part.
Goals
- Explain how users can search on their own, solving and preventing ID questions from being asked;
- Improve the quality of IDs that have been asked;
- Create more clear-cut rules for closing bad IDs. This will also reduce zombie ID count because of automatic deletion after 30 days.
I think we're having a problem where the [closed] notification doesn't explain how to fix a bad ID in a concrete, short and easily understandable way. It looks more like a bunch of guidelines (that's what it's actually called in the close plaque, btw), tips and tricks and general recommendations. And the reviewers basically have to use common sense to arbitrarily evaluate an ID's quality. That does not sound like good rules to me.
Instead of what we have now, I suggest we make my proposed rules the first thing we show to the users whose ID got closed, and then, as an addition, the guidelines as a self-help message.
How it works
The list of course can't be just Naruto, Bleach and Evangelion. It has to be relevant to the search query and the post's body.
Example: Anime about police who kill people who haven't done anything bad yet
I'm looking for this anime where police aims their pistols at people and the pistol tells them if it will kill the target or just neutralize. Sometimes the pistol doesn't shoot at all.
I have looked for "anime pistol police" and found out that it's not:
- Patlabor
- Dominion tank police
- A. D. Police
- Hellsing
- Psycho-Pass… − and the ID never got posted
These days ID requests are so lazy that you can find the answer by googling a few of the keywords in the question. What does that say about the poster? That they most likely didn't try googling. That is too lazy and should not be allowed.
If you see a list of wrong titles in an ID request, it becomes obvious that OP has made at least some effort. Of course if they meet just the minimum requirement, it makes them look bad, but still better than no effort at all.